These smoked beef cheek barbacoa tacos combine juicy pulled beef cheek with a rich guajillo chili broth, creating the ultimate taco filling.
Barbacoa, a traditional Mexican cooking method, involves slow-cooking meat until it’s incredibly tender and flavorful. While traditional barbacoa involved underground pits lined with agave leaves, more modern methods achieve just the same tender, richly-flavored meat. And these smoked beef cheek barbacoa tacos are no different.
Beef cheek’s rich connective tissue and marbling make it ideal for barbacoa tacos. Over the course of our slow smoke and then braise, we break these down to turn it into gelatin, resulting in tender meat with an incredibly juicy and silky texture. The meat is infused with flavor in a complex sauce of guajillo chilies and spices, before being wrapped in warm corn tortillas.
I’ve made smoked beef cheeks before on here, but this adds an extra step of cooking them in a broth to really work in more flavor and turn them into the perfect taco filling.
Barbacoa Explained
Beef barbacoa goes all the way back to the Caribbean Taino people, who used to dig out pits to create ‘earth ovens’ for slow cooking meat. Originally calling it ‘barbarbicu’, it became known as barbacoa in Mexico and Central America, before that word evolved in the US to become what we now know as barbecue.
While the original cooking method involved cooking meat wrapped in agave leaves in an underground pit, today the term has broadened to involve slow-cooking meat in broth and spices until it’s pull-apart tender.
These tender shreds of meat are perfect for taco fillings, and have regional variations throughout Mexico, like birria in Jalisco and cochinita pibil in Yucatán.
For this recipe, I’m taking beef cheek and smoking it low and slow before adding it to a guajillo-infused broth until it’s perfectly tender. The resulting shreds of pulled beef cheek are outrageously tender and loaded with incredible flavor from the guajillos, dried spices, and beef broth.
Quick Tips
- When toasting the chilies, it is really important that you do not let them burn. Believe me, it is easily done! Keep the pan on a low-level heat to let the flavors develop in the oil and for the chilies to hydrate.
- I’ve marked 203°F (95°C) as the internal temperature at which the cheeks will be ready. However, it can be difficult to get an accurate reading if hot liquid has worked its way into the meat. As a fallback, you are aiming for a texture that easily shreds and pulls apart.
- Don’t discard the broth right away – you’ll want to keep some of it to drizzle over the tacos for serving!
Smoked Beef Cheek Barbacoa Tacos
Ingredients
- 2 beef cheeks
- 18 corn tortillas
Broth
- 1 oz dried guajillo chilies
- ¼ tsp allspice berries
- ½ tsp black peppercorns
- 4 whole cloves
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 onion chopped
- 4 tomatoes chopped
- 6 cloves garlic peeled
- 2 bay leaves
- 4 cups beef stock
- 3 tsp sea salt
Garnish
- 2 serrano chiles thinly sliced
- 1 onion roughly chopped
- 2 limes cut into wedges
Instructions
- Prepare the guajillo chilies by cutting the stems off and slicing them open to remove the seeds
- In a pestle and mortar, grind the allspice berries, black peppercorns, whole cloves, and cumin seeds. Set aside.
- Heat olive oil in a skillet over low heat. Add the chilies to the pan and warm them for 5 minutes, stirring frequently (do not let them burn).
- To the skillet with the toasted guajillo chilies, add the chopped onion, tomatoes, garlic cloves, and bay leaves. Allow them to cook for a couple of minutes, then add the ground dried spices and combine well.
- Add the toasted ingredients to a blender, along with the beef stock and salt. Blend until smooth.
- Place a fine-mesh strainer or sieve over a Dutch oven or large pot, and pour the blended broth into it. Use a whisk to help move the mixture through the sieve. Discard the remains in the strainer.
- Bring the broth to a simmer. Add the smoked beef cheek to the broth, submerging the meat. Allow the broth to simmer until the beef reaches an internal temperature of 203°F (95°C) and becomes tender enough to shred easily.
- Pull the beef from the broth and transfer to a deep dish or large bowl. Use forks (or your hands) to shred the beef. Set to one side.
- In a pan or skillet over medium-high heat, warm each corn tortilla in a small amount of oil for 20-30 seconds per side. Place on paper towels as they’re done to soak up excess oil and let them cool slightly.
- To serve, spoon a small handful of beef cheek into each tortilla, with a spoonful of broth drizzled on top. Garnish with sliced chilies, chopped onion, and lime wedges before serving.
